[image from abc. For those new to the Ethiopia coffee trademark issue, start here]

You wouldn’t catch this by reading most of the mainstream media coverage of this issue, but the US is not the only place where Ethiopia’s trying to trademark its coffee names.

In fact, Ethiopia has received trademarks for all 3 of the coffee names in question (Yirgacheffe, Harrar, Sidamo) in Canada. In addition, the European Union’s granted trademarks for both Yirgacheffe and Harrar.

The US Trademark office has granted trademarks for just one name: Yirgacheffe. (PDF)

Still, this means that the current battle between Ethiopia and Starbucks hinges on just 2 names, Harrar and Sidamo — NOT 3, as many MSM outlets are reporting. The Yirgacheffe issue’s already been settled, back in August.

The other point that this brings up: What a country or nation(s) considers trademark-able appears to be a more fluid, subjective, and individuated issue — as opposed to a cut-and-dry, just-apply-the-trademark-rules sort of thing.

What we consider a trademark, it seems, has to do more with the rules each country has developed, not any sort of inherent or firm standards that determine who and what may or may not be deserving of trademark status.

I just wanna point that out here before we go on. There is no “true” trademark law. Trademark laws seem inherently subjective — and much of that subjectivity, at least for the US so far — has been defined by big corp interests.

Update 12/6/06: What do Ethiopians want? The Ethiopian govt has been very clear that what it wants is trademarks.

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